How do you guys handle mediocre average IT workers?

Bchen2

Like today we had a couple IT employees in engineering and help desk who were saying that GOOD ENOUGH IS JUST GOOD ENOUGH WHO CARES and so i thou but i work with these guys before they do the absolute bare minimum and can hardly troubleshoot anything and didnt add any notes to tickets that werent resolved they were so simple that a 5 year old can solve nope forward it to engineering or network group so they can solve their password issue

They are either bare minimum workwrs or just very average in their IT skills

So how do you guys handle mediocre IT employee at your work environment? Let them sink or swim? Help them and talk to them? Tell the boss about them?

Idk if it something as system admin or network mediocrity is acceptable i bet that be seriously punished

bloodshotbetty

You will find this in any field. Think of it this way, it gives YOU the opportunity to look really good and outperform your colleagues. Supervisors take notice.

You can always offer help or give them an opportunity to learn, but some people are just not driven to improve and succeed.

alias454

I try to approach this type of thing with direct communication. I take care of the issue and then let the person know what the resolution was and how in the future they should be able to handle it. If it continues, I try to find out if it is lack of technical knowledge or if it is lack of caring/laziness. if the former, they can be trained better; if the latter, there is nothing you can do except make management aware of the problem or deal with it.

When I worked on the helpdesk, my goal was to resolve everything I touched. I would escalate something because of lacking permissions but for the most part, I tried to keep the time the user was not doing their job to a minimum.

TheFORCE

This is easy, and you can use this method on almost anything. You follow the 4 P's. Partners, Processes, Products, People. Start from the Partners and you end up to the people, in the middle you you have products and the processes for which you set up the rules of engagement. This way, the People know what to do, if they do not, then they get in trouble "evil laughter" here.

pevangel

Did they actually say that they don't want to learn anything new?

Never let them sink unless they refuse your help. You want to be the guy that grows himself and his peers, and not the guy that just grows himself.

networker050184

I look at it this way, compared to them I can look really good with just a little effort. Or look spectacular with a lot of effort. I owe my quick advancement in my career to them!

tpasmall

I try to motivate them, a good surrounding workforce will make your job easier. If you can't motivate them, those tend to be the people you don't want to be around anyway and your progress will probably make them hate you. Just encourage and be a good example. Help those who can be helped, learn from those willing to teach.

markulous

pevangel wrote: »

Did they actually say that they don't want to learn anything new?

Never let them sink unless they refuse your help. You want to be the guy that grows himself and his peers, and not the guy that just grows himself.

That's pretty much what I try to do first also. I am a lead/2nd tier support at a help desk and most of the people aren't that motivated. I try share free IT resources and training with them. Talk to them about certs, new tech, etc. Not sure how much they pay attention to it, but I'd rather try then just say "screw you guys you suck"

E Double U

markulous wrote: »

I try share free IT resources and training with them. Talk to them about certs, new tech, etc.

I do this with our help desk. I offer to teach all of them about security, but only one replied and I've let him make simple firewall changes. I forward them informative articles and tell them they can use any book in our Info Sec library, but I get blank stares. They either don't like me, not interested in security, or simply lack motivation.

dave330i

Interesting. I was planning on starting a thread about this particular topic, but from the other side. Why bother being exceptional employee?

Pay raise difference between excellent and average employee is usually only few percent. Similar deal for performance based bonus (assuming the company offers one).

Getting a promotion could be impacted, but if you want to move up rapidly you're usually better off jumping ship.

You should definitely spend time and effort to improve your skills, but that doesn't mean you should be working hard at work.

GreaterNinja

I've tried to help my team members grow several times. In order to do this you have to give them hands on training at the job or you have to do a study group & labs with them off the job.

I've handed my friends and coworkers interviews. I've even offered to pay for their MCSA or VCA vouchers...FREE. Still do this day they have yet to pass one cert. All that wasted time and energy. They just make excuses. You cannot help people who do not take the initiative to help themselves.

Sadly, its much more efficient to invest in yourself than help people that are totally complacent.

TheFORCE

GreaterNinja wrote: »

I've tried to help my team members grow several times. In order to do this you have to give them hands on training at the job or you have to do a study group & labs with them off the job.

I've handed my friends and coworkers interviews. I've even offered to pay for their MCSA or VCA vouchers...FREE. Still do this day they have yet to pass one cert. All that wasted time and energy. They just make excuses. You cannot help people who do not take the initiative to help themselves.

Sadly, its much more efficient to invest in yourself than help people that are totally complacent.

That's absolutely true. I experienced the same thing with my coworker. He said he was ok with not doing hard work and not getting certified.

networker050184

dave330i wrote: »

Interesting. I was planning on starting a thread about this particular topic, but from the other side. Why bother being exceptional employee?

Pay raise difference between excellent and average employee is usually only few percent. Similar deal for performance based bonus (assuming the company offers one).

Getting a promotion could be impacted, but if you want to move up rapidly you're usually better off jumping ship.

You should definitely spend time and effort to improve your skills, but that doesn't mean you should be working hard at work.

Work smarter not harder. Delivering twice the results in half the time isn't always about putting more hours in.

And I'll always take more money. I've been the beneficiary of quite a few out of cycle bonuses as well for excelling to go along with my few extra percent above the others as well.

Bchen2

pevangel wrote: »

Did they actually say that they don't want to learn anything new?

Never let them sink unless they refuse your help. You want to be the guy that grows himself and his peers, and not the guy that just grows himself.

I aint the type to back stab someone but these help desk agents have been here longer than me and they just do dumb stuff that blows my mind
Especially that password issue or somethings tellin our users we dont know it not our problem

Work is work i know some people find it a nesscesity evil but at least i expect some people who been in a company at the same jobs for years to be competant at their jobs
Help desk isnt even rocket science

DeyCole

bloodshotbetty wrote: »

You will find this in any field. Think of it this way, it gives YOU the opportunity to look really good and outperform your colleagues. Supervisors take notice.

You can always offer help or give them an opportunity to learn, but some people are just not driven to improve and succeed.

My thoughts exactly. I took a leadership class once, from what I can remember, the numbers were; in a work-center of 5 people, 1 will be the top performer, 3 will do the bare minimum, and 1 won't be worth a damn. From what I've witnessed, I believe this to be true.

Danielm7

E Double U wrote: »

I do this with our help desk. I offer to teach all of them about security, but only one replied and I've let him make simple firewall changes. I forward them informative articles and tell them they can use any book in our Info Sec library, but I get blank stares. They either don't like me, not interested in security, or simply lack motivation.

Similar situation where I work. We took a guy from helpdesk and offered to start training him on the security side. Almost zero interest, he'd really rather just image systems all day. The guy likes us just fine, we actually picked him because he gets along well with everyone but like you mentioned, no interest and no motivation. I would have killed to have that offer to get into security that early in my career but it doesn't mean that everyone has the same interests.

Blackout

In the military we just called you lazy, and if you were lazy you got extra attention from everyone else in your shop (In the military you don't want extra attention)

dave330i

networker050184 wrote: »

Work smarter not harder. Delivering twice the results in half the time isn't always about putting more hours in.

And I'll always take more money. I've been the beneficiary of quite a few out of cycle bonuses as well for excelling to go along with my few extra percent above the others as well.

If your company properly rewards you, great. Based on my experience with corporate America, that's an exception, not the rule.

cowill

Me personally, I don't trip, cause I understand. I.T. doesnt excite every one. For some folks its just a means to an end....To pay the bills, feed the kids...etc... These are the folks, you go to their house, they may have a old 2002 version of a A+ study guide, one PC still running Windows XP or a Mac and nothing else.....and that works for some folks

I remember being in the military and being in a M.O.S. i didnt care about...so I can relate......


I'm just glad I'm doing something that I'm interested enough in......I remember when I didn't have those days.........I dont care about who does and doesnt like I.T....I tend to worry about myself and people around me who want the knowledge.....

phantasm

To borrow a gaming quote, "Frag the weak and hurdle the dead". IT is cut throat at times. You either keep up or get pushed aside. I don't pay them any attention. In fact, once I notice them as being under performers I push them out of my way and move forward.

cshkuru

I guess my first two questions are, are you their supervisor? and are they causing you extra work? if both of those are no then it's noyfb. If they are causing you extra work document it and bring it up to your boss. If you are their supervisor document it, write a counseling statement and when the time comes terminate them if they don't improve.

DoubleNNs

dave330i wrote: »

You should definitely spend time and effort to improve your skills, but that doesn't mean you should be working hard at work.

[Sadly] I've independently come to the same conclusion.

echo_time_cat

I've seen this "bare minimum effort" with our agents as well. It just comes down to laziness. I know some very capable agents, who have been there longer than I, who put in zero effort. It really is just a paycheck to them and nothing more. It's not this potentially exciting and lucrative field we on this forum tend to see it for (to them).

What I do is this: I give them all the training, tools and resources they could possibly need. They do with it what they will. Those that have an interest in learning more, well... I'll give them all the can handle (but the training resources are available to anyone).

Now, with a situation like the OP describes where the problem was a bad password, I don't fix that for these agents... ever. I have a system where I bounce the ticket back to them and they are FORCED to fix their own mess

When laziness causes messes like this that were fixable, their tickets are always bounced back, and what sometimes happens is they will then complain that they "didn't know this..." or "weren't trained on that..." They are really just upset that now they have to actually do some work. The truly great thing is that they HAVE TO respond to the ticket rejection, and their excuses and complaining are seen by management.

Also seen by management are my replies showing them where to find the info/steps they need to take (available to all), and what part of training this falls under (which they've already had). I always make sure that I provide more than enough info, and leave the proverbial "door open" to ask any questions they need to.

If this becomes a pattern with an agent, corrective action can begin.

linuxabuser

This is 80% of all IT workers I've encountered. I uh, I guess I get frustrated with them and move on in two years or so.

Bchen2

I mean sure I can just. Shut up and not say c r a p but some agents cause me and other people to do their work for them i personally dont think that i have to really hold someones hand to troubleshoot common sense issues especially if they been there longer than me
I try to bring the ticket queue very down but a large school district will be producing tickets like crazy sometimes

UnixGuy

It used to piss me off years ago but not anymore. I learned to mind my business, do my thing, and work on my own career. I understand treating IT like a job and a means to an end (it really is..think about it).

Kinet1c

UnixGuy wrote: »

It used to piss me off years ago but not anymore. I learned to mind my business, do my thing, and work on my own career. I understand treating IT like a job and a means to an end (it really is..think about it).

Nailed it. Look out for numero uno while keeping your goals/aspirations to yourself. Some people will get irritated or annoyed at you for being pro-active.

Bchen2

Kinet1c wrote: »

Nailed it. Look out for numero uno while keeping your goals/aspirations to yourself. Some people will get irritated or annoyed at you for being pro-active.

I guess I got annoyed because in some areas of IT
Mediocrity can't be acceptable
If you put in average effort in a system admin position or network that may cause problem when you implement backs and want your servers always up and running
Help desk probably can get away with average effort but when I got to be doing other peoples work it annoys me when the workload builds up

Mooseboost

I get those guys every once in a while. We will have "IT" people call us asking how to set their stuff up. Example (I work at an ISP):

IT girl: Umm. I just spoke to someone earlier. I am trying to set up a Cisco router on our side of your stuff. Um. I know the default gateway, the subnet mask, and what the network IP. I need you to tell me our two useables? When I called earlier they said I had two useables.. What are they? I have xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.252.

Tech: *silence* You need the two useables? You have the network and the mask.

IT girl: yeah but you need to tell me my useables so I can setup our stuff right. I see this Adtran thingy here, is that yours or ours?

Tech: The Adtran is our equipment. You have a DMZ, please confirm you are setting this router up on your side of the DMZ?

IT girl: What is a DMZ?

Tech: That means you configure your own networking equipment. We provide the connection and the statics. Our Adtran is just there so we can ensure QoS on the VoIP. You have the network and the mask, you should be able to find your useables.

Normally I would be less gruff and help but these people are doing contract IT work for the city and they are paying them huge bucks. This was suppose to be the engineer over the install.

E Double U

Mooseboost wrote: »

IT girl: What is a DMZ?

At least her response wasn't, "isn't that border between the Koreas?".

bpenn

Mooseboost wrote: »

I get those guys every once in a while. We will have "IT" people call us asking how to set their stuff up. Example (I work at an ISP):

IT girl: Umm. I just spoke to someone earlier. I am trying to set up a Cisco router on our side of your stuff. Um. I know the default gateway, the subnet mask, and what the network IP. I need you to tell me our two useables? When I called earlier they said I had two useables.. What are they? I have xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.252.

Tech: *silence* You need the two useables? You have the network and the mask.

IT girl: yeah but you need to tell me my useables so I can setup our stuff right. I see this Adtran thingy here, is that yours or ours?

Tech: The Adtran is our equipment. You have a DMZ, please confirm you are setting this router up on your side of the DMZ?

IT girl: What is a DMZ?

Tech: That means you configure your own networking equipment. We provide the connection and the statics. Our Adtran is just there so we can ensure QoS on the VoIP. You have the network and the mask, you should be able to find your useables.

Normally I would be less gruff and help but these people are doing contract IT work for the city and they are paying them huge bucks. This was suppose to be the engineer over the install.

Sometimes I wonder how people get these good jobs when they don't know **** about them. I seriously cringed.